New Year's Gifts of Poetry, Enchantment, and Loving Kindness

It is time to send good wishes. For Christmas peace and delight. For New Year blessings. For Hanukah. For all other holidays that people celebrate at this time of the year. Why do we need holidays? Holy Days? To set aside some time and "sanctify" this time with feelings and actions of goodness, forgiveness, loving kindness, delight, child-like wander, joy, and peace, and tranquility of the heart that comes from being at-one with the world, at-one with the time and space of right here, right now.

Of Bliss

I'm burning but I'm not burnt

In agony, but not yet dying

Light streams out of my heart

Filled into overflowing

Sounds of an ancient tongue

Trigger a glimpse of a time

When the rose and the flame are one

Wreath of fire which engulfs me

Dissolving into stillness

A white wave reaches its destiny

The valley brightens

Under a shaft of sunlight

The air is sweetened with flutes

And harps – how obvious,

how delightful! A breath

and music cascade into silence

Love is no father, no mother

But this: perfection

Of all things in all

Feelings collapsed into one

Not a longing, really,

And not satisfaction.

Perfect fulfillment: 

All dreams.

(c) Maja Trochimczyk, 2016, from Into Light

In my Christmas and New Year Wishes for 2017, I quote poems and post pictures of gifts that I'm thankful for, the gifts of art, of poetry, of presence and enlightenment that I received from my friends or found somewhere, somehow.

I was quite surprised that I got a gift from a new poet at our readings, Mr. Yatindra Bhatnagar, a serious man who somehow reminded me of my father in his seriousness, and earnestness, gravitas,  you could say. Here's the poem I received with delight and put on my desk at work:

LIFE

Life is sacrifice, make it,

Life is a reward, take it.

Life is beauty, admire it,

Life is success, desire it.

Life is a dream, conjure it,

Life is a struggle, endure it.

Life is community, reform it,

Life is a duty, perform it.

Life is reality, face it,

Life is love, embrace it.

Life is a battle, fight it,

Life is a path, light it.

Life is a game, play it,

Life is truth, say it.

(c) by Yatindra Bhatnagar.

Lovely, isn't it?  The voice of reason, the call to embrace life in all its complexity and challenges, in truth, reality, beauty and love... Thank you, Yatindra.

Pacific Beach in Ventura (c) by Maja Trochimczyk, 2016 

I was equally delighted when I got a message from my dear friend, a multi-talented poet-artist Toti O'Brien who wrote a short story about creating Sweet Relief, an artwork that now proudly adorns my home. Below is an excerpt from Toti's piece, published as "The Tapestry" in Communion, Issue 6. http://walleahpress.com.au/communion6-Toti-O'Brien.html

Toti O'Brien with Sweet Relief, August 2014,(c) by Maja Trochimczyk

"The inspiration for the painting came in times of fertility and steadiness, when I still was my own master. I conceived it as a mosaic of many squares, something I’d tackle a fragment at the time, then put together at last. From the same fertility a family sprung, while the work was two thirds on its way. The last third reflected my new status: I switched from brushes to needles… matching the mood of nursing and lullabying. The materials I used, thread and cloth, subliminally hinted at blood ties, domesticity." [...]

"I decided to call the piece “Sweet Relief”, when I began the sewing portion… to express my focus: exploring effects on color and form of a barely hinted third dimension. Therefore, I provided no more than a technical definition. Although, those two words were the title of a song I had liked, ten years earlier. I had fallen in love with it, even decided to learn it, listening to the same old tape a disconcerting number of times." [...]

"It took me sixteen years to complete the labor. During that time I was calling. Did relief ever come? I dare say yes. Stitch by stitch, I put it together. With my fading eyes, my ten fingers."

And now, this beautiful piece, that took sixteen years to create, square by square, one after another, is in the central point in my home. I like watching the patterns, repeating, varying, from image to image, abstract, pastel, yet rich beyond belief... Thank you, Toti. 

It is fascinating to me that Toti had the persistence needed to finish the work, to keep adding to it, square by square, year by year. What an amazing project! But what's equally amazing are the blessings we receive. Blessings of patience...

The Gift of Patience

squeeze your eyes tight

raise your face to the sun

see the magic kaleidoscope

of jagged shapes

under your eyelids

the white light heals

the white light erases

the white light sings

a new world into being

a world without torture

a world without shame

a new world

just close your eyes

just wait, do not peek

the grace will come

the grace will come

the white light sings

(c) 2016 by Maja Trochimczyk, from Into Light.

Timeless Ray of Hope (c) by Maja Trochimczyk with text by Kimberly Meredith (thehealingtrilogy.com)

One source of blessings, for me, is the spiritual healer, Kimberly Meredith, who has a simple message, different for everyone, yet the same - forgiveness, love, compassion, living in the light, in love, in the present of grace.... I made an image with her words and hope to see her again. She helps people find their own way to health and happiness.

My way to happiness includes my friends, especially the four  "birds" of the Spiritual Quartet - Lois P. Jones (The Phoenix), Ambika Talwar (The Peacock), Susan Rogers (The Hummingbird) and myself (The Dove of Love, they called me). Once upon a time, the birds went to the forest. To be exact, to the enchanted forest sound-and-light installation at Descanso Gardens in La Canada. Pure magic. Something to remember and be deeply thankful for.

L to R: Maja, Ambika, Lois, and Susan at Descanso Gardens, 2016

There is a field of tulips changing color in waves, the symphony of oaks that play bells and chords modulating when you go around them, the color lights on the fog above water, the circles and spheres of light that change color when you walk from circle to circle,

Path of Light Drops, Maja Trochimczyk

The enchanted ancient forest with thousands of fire flies, the moving shadows on the lilacs, the blue, green and purple trees showing off their contours, the red lanterns reflected in the deep darkness of the water, beneath oak branches and camellia blossoms. Pure magic. With something for kids and something for adults, and stars above our heads, bright, oh so bright...

Give me your hand... by Maja Trochimczyk

This beautiful installation brings the best of technology and nature together. This is THE way to use the recent developments in technology: remote sensors that trigger beautiful sounds from hidden computers and loudspeakers when people dance about the oaks; light projectors and computer controls that move the thousands of fire fly lights on the canopies of redwoods and sycamores, that dance on the surface of the pond, that color the forest with a magic palette of violets and sapphires. 

All to create beauty, thankfulness and gratitude in people's hearts. The tall, majestic trees of Descanso Gardens are beautiful in any weather, any light. They are just that, beauty personified. But the colored lights and sounds add another dimension, playful, and delightful, to the already beautiful, enchanted and enchanting forest - something for children that are four, and children that are sixty four...

Rest with me... by Maja Trochimczyk

And then, I read, and read, and listened. I am on this endless quest to find the truth behind the truth, the core of reality hidden in plain view within our reality here and now. I found bits and pieces already. The Beatles sung about it - Love, Love, Love... It is so obvious and so present that it is so very easy to miss and ignore.

Japanese Garden by Maja Trochimczyk

You have to pause and think, or look at it from a different perspective. Say, the "timeline" of your life.  Can you change this timeline, can you jump to a different reality, a different world? Yes, it is easy, so easy. And you can do it in several steps (thanks to YouTube for posting the video with this inspiration, supposedly channeled from Egyptian deities that lived long ago).

• First Step: Imagine as your goal the timeline of the world of Loving Kindness
• Second Step: Fill your heart and head with the idea and feeling of Loving Kindness to all, everyone and everything, right here, right now
• Third Step: Act with Loving Kindness towards all, everyone and everything, right here, right now, and always
• Fourth Step: Persevere and maintain that mental and emotional state of Loving Kindness regardless of how people respond to you and how you are treated. 

That's it, you are done. 

You have jumped to the timeline of Loving Kindness. You live in Heaven, or rather, Heaven lives in you. 

Remember, the fourth step is the most important. Do not sink into regret, anger, fear, hatred, disgust, despondency, nor anything negative. Do not sink into the quagmire of self-inflicted negativity, neither self-indulgence, nor self-aggrandizement will take you to your destination of Loving Kindness.



Isn't it great? Entering this blessed and blissful world is very easy, having the intention to do it is also easy, what's hard is to keep going, stay in this magic kindgom, and maintain your attitude and feelings of Loving Kindness towards all, everyone and everything in the face of adversity, cold, trouble, mosquitoes that bite your arms, or pesky and annoying people that say nasty things to annoy you.

So I wish everyone to find their own world of Loving Kindness and fill this world with blessings of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...If all people followed that path we'd have no wars, right? Why don't I start from myself? And end there? Since I cannot change others, only myself?

Loving Kindness is one of the names of God, and if we are made of Loving Kindness, we are simply Divine!  Here's a poem of gratitude for this astounding gift.

Double Delight Rose by Maja Trochimczyk

A Hymn

For the gift of freedom

Praise God's Holy Name

For the new beginning

Thank the One, True Love

For the spring of joy

Sing the purest song

Of Love that was, is

And forever will be in you

With you, all around you

Love the Love

Love the Greatest Love

Praise God's Holy Name —

(C) 2016 by Maja Trochimczyk, from Into Light

So now only one thing remains to be done, to wish all my poetic and artistic and kind and loving friends, warm and happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year!

May your Heart be light as a Feather,

May your Smile be bright as the Sun,

May your Days be sweetened with Laughter,

Happy Holy Days of Loving Kindness and Fun!

Best wishes for the Holiday Season and the New Year 2017!


Maja Trochimczyk

Give It All Away... Love and Light Poetry Workshop with Jessica and Juan

You give it away and it magically grows back so you have more of it . . . What is it? Not money, because it does not grow on trees. . . and not any physical possessions . . . For Jack Weber it is love, and he came up with 15 reasons to prove it: http://wakeup-world.com/2015/09/10/15-reasons-to-give-your-love-away-today/.  On September 23, 2015 I read this essay divided into three voices, with Jessica Wilson and Juan Cardenas, as a part of a Poetry Workshop "Give It All Away..." This paradoxical recipe works very well, if applied with sincerity, so, the advice to our listeners, residents at Phoenix House Venice, was to go, "have at it..."

Maja Trochimczyk, Juan Cardenas, Jessica Wilson, Akilah Templeton

Though called "Poetry Workshop" and filled with poems, our event was actually not very poetic, not in the sense of learning the craft of writing poetry. . . Our focus was content. September is the National Recovery Month and we decided to celebrate it by sharing words of wisdom, inspiration, and positive thinking. Words of truth, love and light.  Before the reading started, I went around the room to shake hands with everyone in the audience. It is a very important gesture of connection and affirmation. While shaking hands you have to look the person straight into their eyes. This is where you meet and know each other. this is the connection of love.

Jessica M. Wilson, the President of the Los Angeles Poet Society, accompanied by her husband, flutist and poet Juan Cardenas, led the way with poems from her new book, Serious Longing, published this year by Editions du Cygne in Paris. Surrounded by soft tones of the flute, she continued the reading with an inspiring poem printed in the program:

EpiTantriChord            

I am a Poet of the
Cosmic chord -- I say, “luz”,
Maja calls it, “love”.

Perception and digital signals, dials us up
one by one.
We are here; empty.

Come and fill us up,
just don’t feel us up; we’re tired
of being used,
tired of being consumed.
Trash bag over our young and we don’t even want to look
to see its face. An atrocity.

A lone 93-year-old man who’s loved so,
as to sacrifice decades of his life for a cause of millions...
and here he makes breath
for only few to ever see.
Broken chord.
Chain-link to every human’s ghost.
A known unknowing of our eternity.

JESSICA M. WILSON is Navajo Indian Poet from East Los Angeles, CA. She has an MFA in Writing from Otis College of Art and Design and a BA in Creative Writing and Art History from University of California, Riverside. She began the Los Angeles Poet Society as an answer to bring the LA literary 'scene' into light - so there would be transparency between Poets and Poetry Venues, Publishers, Musicians and Artists and all creatives. To bring the community together, she is Founder and Host of the Literary Series: Writers' Row, Writer Wednesday, SoapBox Poets Open Mic, and the Salon @ NoHo. Jessica is a Poet Teacher with California Poets in the Schools, and believes in the power of the word! She is also a member of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change and the Revolutionary Poets Brigade in Los Angeles.

Her final poem was a call to action, inspiring her listeners to acknowledge and speak their personal truth: 

Power

I can imagine the earth in a field of words.

I make new ethics; blow them into the winds to meet the people.

I can influence the direction of the sparkling tide

by tapping my finger

on its surface.

In an exhale of sighs, I can signal traffic

to travel another way.

Flashing bulbs

of green and yellow merge from my palms.

They taste like nectarine

and nourish us.

I can blow the dust of glass

into new cities of neon lights

and dark clouds.

I am able to resist because someone has to.

If you question nothing,

why have a mind to think?

I can do something because I really never liked

waiting around

for a show to start.

I am the show.

We are the actors on this world-set of made up dreams,

fantasy nodes, truths we shear from the trees and towers.

We are the truth.

Let us show it always.

Let us be truth.

Jessica M. Wilson

JUAN CARDENAS, who was ten when he came to the U.S. from Mexico,  is a flutist, vocalist, poet, activist, and educator to the bilingual community, specializing in teaching poetry and music to the youth. He is a Poet Teacher with California Poets in the Schools, working with native Spanish speakers and youth of diverse cultural backgrounds. Juan is also part of the 100 Thousand Poets and Musicians for Change, and the Revolutionary Poets Brigade - Los Angeles. This is what he says about the tole of creativity in his life:

"Literature and creative expression were the gateway to discovering who I was, it made the everyday living simpler to understand, and school a lot easier to handle; not to mention motivating. I am able to see how poetry impacted my life at a young age in a positive way. I am now aware of the different directions my life could have gone as I see today’s youth. As an immigrant growing in a Latino community, I first-handedly felt  the lack of literary outlets in the community. Unfortunately, I still feel its presence in North Hollywood. I would like to be the bridge to the community to literal creative arts."

After the presentations by Jessica and Juan it was my turn. First, I led my listeners in a five-minute Meditation on Light that I created, based on a variety of inspirations. Then, I read three poems with love as the theme, my favorite subject.

© 2015 by Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D

I followed the meditation with an ancient Druidic Blessing of Light from Ireland, that I used for my Christmas Wishes this year. Indeed, this is the Year of Light!

May the blessing of light be on you 

Light without and light within.

May the blessed sunlight shine on you

And warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire.

Meditation on Light

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Relax. Imagine a bright, golden-white light right above your head, a miniature sun, or a star. Its golden rays shine all around, through you. You are surrounded, enveloped, protected by light. You are safe.

Now, the light shines inside you; its rays penetrate your whole body. All shadows disappear. There is no regret, fear, anger, sorrow. There is no guilt, no shame. Only light. The rays are everywhere, light is everything.

Now, the bright star descends into you; invite the light to enter and fill you. It shines in your brain, inside your head. You see it in your mind's eye. Light particles scatter and flow in waves. You are all light. All thoughts are pure light. There is no darkness. Only light, only peace. 

Now, the light star comes further down and settles in your heart. You have a small sun shining in the middle of your chest. It stays there. The pulsating sun-heart is moving the golden white, dazzling light into all the parts of your body. Your blood and veins are full of light.  Its warm glow spreads all over.

The streams of light flow through all your organs, muscles, skin. The light rays purify, heal, and cleanse. They flow to the tips of the fingers, the tips of the toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose... the top of your head and the soles of your feet, all over your body. The light is energizing. It is good. All good. You are thankful, full of joy. You feel calm, peaceful, serene. 

You rest in the golden glow of the light. You say YES to the light, YES to the life this light brings. Here you are, a bright, living, pulsating star, made of stardust and starlight. 

Here… Now… In this moment…. Next… You are light. You are peace. You are love.

Still.... silent ... serene... Breathe deeply. Breathe in, breathe out... Breathe in, breathe out... 

You rest in the tranquil rhythm of your heart – a bright, pulsating golden sun.

The sun of gratitude, the star of joy, the light of love. 

(c) 2015 by Maja Trochimczyk (revised in 2016 and reposted on this blog; published in Into Light)

We can find light and love in many places. In our hearts, in the hearts of our family and friends, in the arts.  The story of Leonardo's Lady with an Ermine is fascinating, an enchantment that survived through the ages.  It is a miraculous painting that appears to look at you, as if it were alive.

Leonardo's Lady with an Ermine, Poland's Chartoryski Museum

The Lady with an Ermine

~ after Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, in the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow

Her eyes follow me around the room
with that secretive smile she shares
with her famous cousin.
Filled with the knowledge of what was, what will be
she slowly caresses the smooth warm ermine fur.

"Tesoro, amore mio, sii tranquillo, ti amo"

Leonardo’s brush made a space for her to inhabit,
a grey-blue sky painted black much later –
she was pregnant, her son – a Sforza bastard,
the white ermine - the emblem of her Duke.

Sheltered by Polish royalty, she revealed
her charms only to their closest confidantes.
In 1830, exiled in a precious wood box, to Paris,
In 1919, returned to taste the Polish freedom.

"Amore mio, sii tranquillo, ti amo"

In 1939, hidden again, found by the Nazis
for Hitler’s last dream, the Linz Führermuseum,
Art among red flags and swastikas, flourishing
in the dark cavern of his mind. Never built.

Berlin, occupied Krakow, Governor Frank's
hunting lodge, Bavaria. The Red Army's closing in.
The train tracks. Crisp winter air. American soldiers,
The cameras of Monument Men.

"Sii tranquillo, ti amo"

Back home in Krakow, she is safe
in the recess of a museum wall. Under a muted spotlight,
Children play a game:Walk briskly from right to left,
don’t let your eyes leave her eyes, see how she is watching you.

Her eyes follow me around the room
Filled with the knowledge of what was, what will be
she slowly caresses the smooth warm ermine fur.
She knows that I know that she knows.

"Amore mio, ti amo"

_________________

* Tesoro, amore mio, sii tranquillo, ti amo" - fragment of a love letter in Italian, "Sweetheart, my love, be  quiet, I love you"

(C) 2015 by Maja Trochimczyk
http://www.maryevans.com/poetryblog.php?post_id=7032

In the second poem, the entire house has joined me, fifty voices repeating every line after I said it. I actually asked the listeners just to repeat the words in caps, or so I thought. But they had the text in the program and started from the beginning, one phrase after another. Why not? It turned out fantastic! The poem became very dynamic and energized. It came alive. I'm always going to read this poem in this way.

The poem is built around the kernel of basic daily meditations based on four phrases: I'm sorry, Please forgive me. Thank you and I love you.  I recently encountered these phrases on the Stillness in the Storm blog where I find poetic inspiration. The radio host Ted Mahr of Out of This World Radio, recounted a story of the poisoned water of Fukushima. Human-made radiation after the nuclear disaster is spreading around the globe, poisoning all living beings in the Pacific Ocean. Poisoning the waters, the source of life is a terrible thing that we did and now have to fix it.

According to Dr. Masaru Emoto, the creator of the Emoto Peace Project in Tokyo, Japan, we should pray and send our thoughts to the ocean's waters to heal them. At the shore of the ocean, we should gather daily, in a group, and say the following prayer, three times in a row:

Prayer to Fukushima Waters 

Water, we are sorry
Water, please forgive us
Water, we thank you
Water, we love you

I took these basic phrases that can also be found in the most Catholic of rituals, the Mass, starting from "sorry" Confession at the entrance, asking for forgiveness in Kyrie Eleison - Christe eleison and leading to the rite of Thanksgiving in the Eucharist, and the sharing of peace with everyone in Communion, eating the bread of light and love...  So here, my version:

Repeat After Me

Yes, you can find it. /Your way out./
It is so simple. /First you say:/

I AM SORRY – I’m sorry too./
We are the guilty ones,/ we are all at fault!
What happens next? /The door opens./
We stop at the threshold and say:/

PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I FORGIVE YOU./
Forgiveness erases all your guilt,/
all my fears, all our sorrows /– the burden
of dead thoughts is lifted./ See?/
We float up into brightness./ We are
sparks of starlight, /a constellation
dancing in the sky/ as we say:/

THANK YOU,/ THANK YOU VERY MUCH./
Filled with gratitude for every cloud,/
leaf and petal, /every breath we take,/
every heartbeat, /we are ready, at last,/
to say what’s the most important:/

I LOVE YOU, MY LOVE./
I give you all the love/
of my tired, aching heart./

I LOVE YOU, MY LOVE.
I give you all the love/
of my grateful, tranquil heart./

(c) 2015 by Maja Trochimczyk

Inspired by the success of the group performance of this poem, that turned truly uplifting and inspirational, I then turned to my favorite "group reading" poem - that is written on the page in color font, divided into four voices, intertwining into the fabric of one call to action: "Break the veil, undo the knots, free the mind... to see the blessings of infinity, to hear the music of sing-song lullabies, calming us ... for awakening in grace... when the Veil and the Weave are gone."  

This religious poem, entitled The Veil, the Weave, was inspired in equal measure by a quote from prophet Isaiah (its content) and the revolutionary poetry of Vladimir Mayakovsky (its form). It was first posted on this blog for Black History Month in 2014  and was copied in my previous post this September 2015. It was recently read by four poets at the Rapp Saloon in Santa Monica (hosted by Elena Secota). I was joined by the voices of the wonderful Susan Rogers, Ambika Talwar, and Melissa Studdard.

Maja Trochimczyk, Susan Rogers, Ambika Talwar and Melissa Studdard at the Rapp Saloon. 

I previously read it at various events of the Spiritual Quartet, a group of four female poets (Lois P. Jones, Susan Rogers, Ambika Talwar, and myself) of diverse religious and spiritual traditions, Judaism, Catholicism, Sukyo Mahikari, Scientology, Eastern mysticism... We presented our poetry at readings in Southern California, including one in March 2011 at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga (a Village Poets Reading).  Unfortunately, I read this poem by myself then, not having yet come up with this inspired idea of converting the poem into a chorus of voices and a call to community action...

Maja Trochimczyk with Lois P. Jones and Ambika Talwar (L) and with Susan Rogers (R).

But there is always the next time, and now, we have poems that can be woven into a network of luminous voices. Why? 

To quote Ambika Talwar, "because poetry is a bridge to new worlds... So you can live beauty of your deepest awakening passion and be fulfilled!"

The Spring... Ahhh, The Spring...

Here, The first day of spring. The Equinox. The day is as long as the night. From now on it will become longer until summer solstice in June. Ancient Persians celebrated it with the holiday of New Year, the Norooz, Nowrooz, or Nowruz in English. On the night before, they had a large bonfire and they jumped over the flames. The moment of passing through the flames was the moment of purification. The fire burned all evil in the past, all bad things, bad thoughts, bad emotions: the horrors, the failures, the hurts. Sins and regrets. Evil burden of rocks carried in the sack on our backs. The fire strengthened the spirit with new life-force, energy, pure light. It destroyed the evil past of dark shadows and gave birth to the light-filled future. Persians do it now, too. It is pre-Islamic custom, from an ancient Zoroastran religion, where forces of darkness and light always fought in the world, in people's souls and minds.

burn, burn, burn

darkness into light

 white fire

Cherry Tree by Maja Trochimczyk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvDxBt9RVKs

Ancient Slavic peoples, including Poles, also had this custom, this ritual of jumping over the fire - only it was held at Summer Solstice in June, on the shortest night of the year. Once I learned about the Persians, I understood why. But I never did that, I'm afraid of fire. I'm not a jumper. Not a sports person, either, except for swimming and sailing. I'd love to have a sailboat on a lake, somewhere. Not on the ocean. I do not like salty water. I do not trust the ocean, I'm afraid of tsunamis. That's why I bought a house in the mountains, on high ground.

drowning

in an ocean of tears

dreams of sweet water

All religions have this element of purification, cleansing the soul, healing in the spring. New light, new life. Freedom and joy. In Christianity we have the sacrament of baptism (I was baptized as an adult, so I remember clearly the moment of passing through from darkness to light), the confession (that one is scary, with so many corrupt priests), the Mass and eating light-filled bread (my favorite), and the yearly calendar of rituals - Christmas, the birth of light at Winter Solstice, and Easter, the triumph of light at Spring Equinox.

sun rises

a round loaf of bread

in pre-dawn sky

Constant Return I by Julian Stanczak (1965)

line follows line
gravitational waves
bend cosmos

In a Japanese religion, or spiritual practice of Sukyo Mahikari, the Carriers of Light, people use light to heal each other. The centers of the palms of your hands emit healing light, pure energy that can be directed at someone's head or body, various "knots" of toxic thoughts, toxins in the body. The light dissolves the knots, purifies. The palms tingle a bit when you do it. I went to a spiritual center several times and was purified in this way. I had lots of "knots" to disentangle, lots of toxins to remove, a lifetime of hurt.

I give you

light filled with light

what else?

If pink wasn't pink

would you 

wake up, still? 

Ambika Talwar, Susan Rogers, Lois P. Jones and Maja Trochimczyk

Susan Rogers, a friend who is a member of this group, is a great poet. In our group, called the Spiritual Quartet and active for a while, we used to call her a "hummingbird" - for she constantly flickers around, is always in motion, always busy. We also had Lois P. Jones, the fiery "phoenix" reborn from the flames of self-destruction, and Taoli-Ambika Talwar, the proud and royal "peacock" (the bird is a national symbol of India, her home country).

birds scatter

feathers dance

on spring breeze

Who am I? My friends called me a "dove"  of gentleness, serenity, and love. I wrote so many love poems, and read them with such affection, I'm just filled with love, or so it seems... But the Dove is also the Holy Spirit, also the bird that Noah sent from his Arc three times to find dry land after the flood. Two times, it came back with nothing, but the third time it brought back a twig of green, for peace, for the end of the flood, for the spring.

above waves

a dove shines green

in sunlight

mirror says

to the sky

I win

orange cup

of nectar 

verdant dream

_______________________

Meanwhile... I went to the Colliding Rhymes Poetry Reading organized by a fellow Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga, Joe DeCenzo. It was on March 16, at the McGroarty Arts Center, in Tujunga, a part of their Arts at Play Festival. I heard some of my most favorite poets - Sean Hill, a hip-hop artist with a heart of gold and the most astounding mouth capable of making sound effects and reciting a whole segment of hip hop, without a single curse!

Then, there was the surreal Just Kibbe, with his text-message-acronym poetry book and the ibis portrait, Jessica Wilson and Juan Cardenas, the bohemian lovebirds - a poetess and her flutist - and Neil McCarthy, still straight from Ireland, and still in his torn jeans and sandals... For this reading, Justin Kibbe repainted his car yellow - for sun, for Sunland - and asked poets to write on it. Here's my poem, based on a saying by Britta Muehlbach of Phoenix House.

Britta says:

"I fearlessly speak

my truth with love"

I smile, in silence

And here's another very short poem... that I saw, but did not write. I like it. We are what we do, after all...

Tulips in Descanso (FB Album)